The grand jury decision on charging Mike Brown’s killer hasn’t been announced, but the authorities are getting ready–by smearing protesters
St. Louis rapper Tef Poe has become one of the most prominent and committed leaders of the Ferguson-based movement following the August 9th killing of unarmed teen Mike Brown. In a video produced by Color of Change, he discusses the challenges faced by community members and the refusal of the government to act accordingly.
State and local officials in Missouri have declared war on anyone who speaks out against injustice.
People around the country and the world are hoping that Mike Brown’s killer, Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, will be held accountable by a grand jury deliberating on the case.
Jay Nixon has different priorities. At a press conference last week hyped everywhere in the mainstream media, Missouri’s Democratic governor had one purpose in mind: vilify anyone who demonstrated against racism and police violence after Brown was murdered three months ago. With the aim of intimidating people into silence today, as a grand jury decision in the case looms. According to Nixon:
In the days immediately following Michael Brown’s death, peaceful protests were marred by senseless acts of violence and destruction. Vandals smashed the windows of small businesses. Criminals looted and set fire to stores. Gunshots and Molotov cocktails endangered citizens exercising their First Amendment rights and law enforcement attempting to maintain peace.
Vandals? Criminals? The main people committing senseless acts of violence and destruction were local, county, and state police, as well as the National Guard troops mobilized by Nixon. Law enforcement responded to the spontaneous and nonviolent protests of Ferguson residents and their supporters with a reign of terror, mobilizing all the high-tech, military-grade weaponry and equipment they could scrounge up.
Police in cities across the country are preparing to use more violence and repression against any protests against them, whether the case is Mike Brown or the murder of Eric Garner in New York City or Oscar Grant III in Oakland or anyone else.
Now, Jay Nixon and the law enforcement apparatus in Missouri is scaremongering about protesters’ violence before any protests, and ramping up the call for criminalizing dissent.
If there is a verdict that provides anything less than justice for Mike Brown and his family, angry protest will be fully justified. If people around the world know the name of Mike Brown today, it’s because of the rebellion that took place in the days and weeks and months after his murder.
You can be assured that an unjust verdict from the grand jury will be met with the same spirit of resistance in the name of opposing racism and stopping police violence.
-Tamara El(@_SheWise_)
